For the Pointy Nose Crowd…On This Date Sixty Years Ago
(You know who you are 
):
1947 – Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager, 24, flying a Bell X-1, became the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound.
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It may just be a “sea story,” but one of my bosses, who was a great one, fond of saying “My idea of ‘small arms” is a 5″ gun…” claimed to have had a family friend, who was a test pilot for Bell. The story goes is on the day before Chuck’s flight, he took it up, and was sternly warned not to break Mach….You know pilots, competitive sorts they are…he claims to have pushed the nose down a bit and did the deed. Of course, it was buried for history’s sake.
Pat also told a hilarious story of testing the jet pack…they wandered around the factory asking “who wants to try it out?” After that, the in hanger, tethered first flight got quite wild, so it seems…
Dunno…third person stories can sometimes come way too embellished…